An I. S. machine is supplied with discrete gobs of molten glass from a feeder. The gobs are routed via a delivery system which drops each gob into a desired blank mold in the machine. The machine has a number of sections, 10 for example, and each section makes the same number of bottles per cycle, two for example. In such a “double gob” machine, each section will have a pair of blank molds. Each blank mold is defined by two opposed side mold halves or blanks which are displaced, by a mold open and close mechanism, from an open position to a closed position where the mold halves engage, clamping a bottom mold there between. These molds are open at the top. A gob will drop into the mold and the top opening will be closed by a baffle. The lower surface of the baffle, with the inner surfaces of the blanks and the bottom mold define the outer surface of the “parison” which will be formed in the blank mold.
It is advantageous for a gob to drop vertically into its mold along the vertical axis of the mold (this can be even more important when non round ware is to be formed). As a practical matter this may not happen and then operators may rely on a funnel mechanism to improve the delivery of the gob into the mold. The funnel mechanism, which has been used since it was developed in 1928 (see U.S. Pat. No. 1,911,119) is a device that supports a funnel which can be displaced from a remote position to an advanced operating position where the axis of the funnel is coaxial with the axis of the mold and directly above the mold. The funnel will perfect the downward trajectory of a gob so that it will enter the blank as desired.
In the actual sequencing of the machine, the blank molds will be closed (open at the top), the funnel will be moved to the operating position on top of the mold, the gob will be dropped through the funnel into the mold, and a baffle mechanism will operate to advance a baffle from a remote position to an operating position on top of the funnel. “Settle blow” air will be blown out of the baffle downwardly into the mold to push the gob down into the mold. At the conclusion of “settle blow”, the baffle will be displaced back to its remote position, the funnel will be retracted back to its remote position, and the baffle will be displaced to its operating position where it closes the open top of the blank mold. The “parison” will now be formed. Once formed (and cooled to the point where it can be transported), the baffle is displaced back to its remote position, the blank molds are opened and the “parison” is displaced to the blow station where it will be blown into a bottle.